Margate sets preliminary fire assessment rate

May 31, 2013

Margate residents don't have to worry about an increase in the fire assessment fee this year, and it could still go down.

In a 3-to-2 vote, commissioners decided to keep the rate at $225 for the year, which is now the maximum amount they could charge residents this year. The final rate still has to be set and could go down, depending on the numbers city staff members bring back for next year's budget.

The revenue to the city from the fire assessment will go down by approximately $500,000 – or more, if the final rate is lower – for the 2013-14 budget, according to City Manager Jerry Blough. The city will lose the revenue because of new lower rates for businesses, which are based on the amount of demand for fire services and the size of the business – a change the city has to stick to by law.

In order to keep the same revenue, the city would have had to charge residents $21 more a year, which is what city staff members recommended to the commission.

Vice Mayor Lesa Peerman, and Commissioners Tommy Ruzzano and Joanne Simone opposed the raise and instead voted to keep the rate the same for residents and find the $500,000 somewhere else in the city budget.

"I'm not willing to raise the fire assessment fee this year," Peerman said. "I understand we're going to have to cut service, or cut this or cut that. I'm stating for the record, I'm willing to talk about raising the fee next year to get to [the goal], but I am not willing to raise it $21. We'll find that $500,000 somewhere else. It's not easy, but we can do it. I'm not willing to do this on the backs of the residents."

Mayor Frank Talerico and Commissioner Brian Donahue voted no because they believe that keeping the preliminary rate the same would tie the commissions hands during the budget process, especially if there is an unexpected shortfall.

"If we don't take a look at the higher ceiling, we're basically tying our hands," Donahue said. "We can't do anything or fix anything. It's over, it stays low and ties our hands. If we [said] yes to the higher, we could [have kept] it low, and then worked on those things that need to be fixed. I just don't see tying our hands."